Supreme Court Sides With Philip Morris

[seriousstan]

The Supreme Court on Monday sided with Philip Morris USA, refusing to disturb a court ruling that threw out a $10.1 billion verdict over the company's "light" cigarettes.
The court issued its order without comment.

Last year, the Illinois Supreme Court threw out the massive fraud judgment against Philip Morris, a unit of the Altria Group Inc., in a class-action lawsuit involving "light" cigarettes. Because the Federal Trade Commission allowed companies to characterize their cigarettes as "light" and "low tar," Philip Morris could not be held liable under state law even if the terms it used could be found false or misleading, the state court said.

The case involved 1.1 million people who bought "light" cigarettes in Illinois. They claimed Philip Morris knew when it introduced such cigarettes in 1971 that they were no healthier than regular cigarettes, but hid that information and the fact that light cigarettes actually had a more toxic form of tar.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/27/D8LLHG4G0.html

[Mojambo]

1. Quite the shocker. nt

[NVMojo]

2. yeah, I'm shocked, I tell ya!

[Toots]

3. Wow what a surprise........

Extreme court rules again....

[mongo]

4. Here we go again

Who the hell cares about the FACTS about the case, or what the trial was actually about...

The EVVVIIILLL tobacco company won again -- they must OWN the supreme court now.

When the hell will people start actually thinking about the issues instead of just being a reactionary cheerleader for "our" side?

Because the Federal Trade Commission allowed companies to characterize their cigarettes as "light" and "low tar," Philip Morris could not be held liable under state law even if the terms it used could be found false or misleading, the state court said.

Now, a lawsuit against the FTC? THAT would be interesting....

[Stuckinthebush]

5. Indeed

Mongo has an excellent point.

This is not about whether or not the tobacco companies are evil slime, it is about what they were allowed to do by the feds.

They were allowed to market the damn things as "light" so are not liable for them not being any healthier than regular cigs.

[demo dutch]

6. Jeez what a surprise!